Abstract
Mental time travel refers to the ability to recall episodic past and imagine future events. The present study aimed to investigate cultural differences in mental time travel between Chinese and Australian university students. A total of 231 students (108 Chinese and 123 Australians) participated in the study. Their mental time travel abilities were measured by the Sentence Completion for Events from the Past Test (SCEPT) and the Sentence Completion for Events in the Future Test (SCEFT). Results showed that there were no cultural differences in the number of specific events generated for the past or future. Significant differences between the Chinese and Australian participants were found mainly in the emotional valence and content of the events generated. Both Chinese and Australian participants generated more specific positive events compared to negative events when thinking about the future and Chinese participants were more positive about their past than Australian participants when recalling specific events. For content, Chinese participants recalled more events about their interpersonal relationships, while Australian participants imagined more about personal future achievements. These findings shed some lights on cultural differences in episodic past and future thinking.
Highlights
Mental time travel refers to the ability to mentally travel through time, by recalling one’s past events and envisioning possible future events (Arzy et al, 2008; Botzung et al, 2008)
The results showed that for specific events, the main effect of Group was not significant [F(1,229) = 0.83, MSE = 0.032, p = 0.364, ηp2 = 0.004), indicating no significant difference between Chinese and Australian participants
The present study explored cultural differences in specificity, emotional valence, and content in mental time travel between Chinese and Australians
Summary
Mental time travel refers to the ability to mentally travel through time, by recalling one’s past events and envisioning possible future events (Arzy et al, 2008; Botzung et al, 2008). Recalling the past and imagining the future shared a similar cognitive process and memory system (Addis et al, 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007a,b; Schacter et al, 2012). Previous studies mainly focused on cultural differences in episodic specificity of one’s autobiographical memory. Many of them defined specificity as the details contained in the description of events. Wang (2009) reviewed previous studies and found that compared with people from western cultures, Asians or Asian Americans usually generated less specific details Many of them defined specificity as the details contained in the description of events. Wang (2009) reviewed previous studies and found that compared with people from western cultures, Asians or Asian Americans usually generated less specific details
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